Grain drier or the like



Feb. 1, 1955 WOLFE 2,700,830

GRAIN DRIER OR THE LIKE Filed Sept. l5, 1950 MARK A.WOLFE INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States GRAIN DRiER R THE'LmE Mark A. Wolfe, Davidson, Okla.

Application September 15, 1950, Serial No. 185,109

4 Claims. (CI. 34-65) This invention relates to improvements in driers for drying grain, peanuts, beans, certain berries and the like when preparing the same for storage.

An object of the invention is to provide a drier of the described class which will not only quickly dry large volumes of grain or the like, but will cool the same before it is moved to storage. For example, when drying wheat the present drying process automatically supplles the correct amounts of heat for breaking down the gluten for making different types of flour.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a turboengine which supplies pressurized hot air for drying the grain or the like and for driving a fan for cooling the grain after it has been dried.

A further object of the invention is to provide a baflle construction and hot air inlet combination which will saparate the grain or the like as it falls through the drying chute.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an exhaust arrangement and construction which will remove dust, husks and other small bodies from the grain being dried.

The invention will become more readily understood by reference to the following description and the accompanying drawings.

Figure l is a vertical schematic broken elevation and sectional view of a grain drier or the like embodying the features of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a lateral sectional view taken on lines 2-2 of Figure 1 Figure 3 is a broken perspective view of a baffle forming a part of the present invention.

Figure 4 is an enlarged broken perspective view of the outside surface of a filter positioned in opposing walls of the chute and communicating with the exhaust stacks.

In the exemplary form of the invention shown the numeral designates a vertical drying chute positioned within or outside of a grain elevator, not shown, and the upper end of which has a head house 11 positioned thereabove. The head house 11 includes a conveyor 12 for delivering the grain or the like to be dried into a hopper 13 in the upper end of the chute 10. It is to be understood that the head house 11, conveyor 12 and hopper 13 arrangement is conventional, and is described by Way of example and not as a limitation.

The inner walls of the chute 10 are substantially square in lateral cross sections, and in which two of the opposing walls 14 support drying bafiles 15 in its upper end and cooling bafiles 16 in its lower end. The remaining opposing walls 17 communicate with vertical exhaust stacks 18 mounted on their outer surfaces. Preferably, the stacks 18, which are rectangular in cross section, are open at both their upper and lower ends so as to avoid retaining air pressures therein, and whereby the exhausted dust, husks and the like may be quickly removed.

Vertical pressure ducts 19 are mounted on the sides of the chute 10 including the bafiles 15, and have partitions 20 thereacross intermediate the upper and lower ends of said chute. The portion of the ducts 19 below the partitions 20 provide cooling ducts 21 for supplying air to the cooling baflles 16. The lower ends of the cooling ducts 21 are closed by means of lateral partitions 22. The lowermost end of the chute 10 converges toward its center, as at 23, for discharging the dried and cooled grain. The constructions of the bafiles 15 and 16 are identical, therefore only the details of the upper 2,700,830 Patented Feb. 1, 1955 baflles 15 will be described. Eachba'tfle 15 is comprised of a downwardly inclined surface 24 and a lower surface 25 spaced therefrom and communicate with the ducts '19. The converging ends thereof do not meet, but form an elongated horizontal opening 26 therebetween. The upper and lower surfaces converge toward the center of the chute 10, and the sides of which are provided with upwardly inclined flanges 27, theedges of which are in contact with and secured to the inner surfaces of the adjacent walls 17. As shown in Figure l, the baflle openings 26 are alternately staggered one above the other throughout the length of the chute, and preferably have their inner ends overlapping with respect to the vertical. The last described arrangement applies to the cooling baflies 16 which have similar horizontal openings 28 in their inner ends. Filters 29 are provided in openings 30 in the walls 17, and may be of any suitable material, such as fine mesh wire, not shown. However, a preferred filter is illustrated in Figure 4, wherein the same is comprised of horizontal strips of metal having outwardly formed corrugations 32 along their upper edges. The strips 31 thus arranged provide relatively small openings 33 which permit dust and husks to pass therethrough, but which retain the grain within the chute 10.

Pressurized hot air is supplied to the heating ducts 19 by means of an axial flow turbo jet engine 34 having its exhaust 35 positioned within an air inlet duct 36. In the exemplary form of the invention shown, the inlet duct 36 is downwardly turned and has a pivoted butterfly valve 37 in its intake end 38. The valve 37 is connected, by means of a crank and arm assembly 39 with an adjustable thermostat 40 mounted in the heating duct 19. Preferably, the discharge end of the air inlet duct 36 is in the form of a venturi 41 which, in turn, is connected with horizontal arcuate ducts 42. Both of the ducts 42 are connected with the upper ends 43 of the heating ducts 19.

A generator 44 may be connected with and driven by the turbo engine 34 and connected with the motor 45 of a blower or fan 46 by means of wires 47. The air from the fan 46 is conveyed to the cooling duct 21 by means of a divided duct 51, similar to the previously described divided 42. The effectiveness of both the heating baffles 15 and the cooling baflles 16 may be increased by providing upwardly turned lips 49 and 50, respectively, along the inner edges of the lower surfaces thereof. By means of the lips 49 and 50, the dust and husks are not only raised, but the falling action of the grain or the like is retarded, thus allowing the same to be either more effectively heated or cooled, as the case may be.

In operation, grain or the like from the head house 11 falls downwardly through the chute 10 and is deflected throughout its course by the battles 15 and 16. The hot pressurized air is sprayed through the horizontal narrow openings 26 in the ends of the upper baffles 15, not only drying the grain or the like, but separating the same during its descent. The moisture is almost immediately exhausted through the filters 29. The thermostat 40 controls the volume of the air, and thereby provides the correct amount of heat and pressure for the drying operation. When the grain reaches the lower bafiles 16, the air from the blower 46 cools the same, and whereby the grain discharged from the lower end of the chute is both dry and cool.

The present invention is not limited to the construction herein shown and described, but may be made in many ways within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed:

1. A grain drier or the like comprising first vertical walls enclosing a chute, downwardly and inwardly directed hollow bafiies supported on two opposed walls of said chute and alternately spaced with respect to each other, second vertical Walls enclosing a space around said chute, said bafiles opening into said space and chute, gas exhaust openings in at least one wall of said chute other than said opposed walls, an air inlet duct having one end communicating with the atmosphere and the other with said space, said duct having a restriction therein, a turbo jet engine having a restricted exhaust nozzle, said exhaust nozzle being located within said air inlet duct adjacent o said restriction, whereby said engine acts as a jet pump to pressurize said space and cause air and exhaust gases to be jetted through said nozzles into said chute.

2. In the grain drier as defined in claim 1, means mounting said air inlet duct so that it communicates with the top of said chute.

3. In the drier as defined in claim 1, a cooling section at the bottom of said chute, a motor pump supplying air to said cooling section, and means driven by said turbojet engine to drive said pump.

4. In the drier as defined in claim 1, upwardly turned deflecting plates mounted in said chute adjacent the discharge openings of said baffies.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Beach June 2, Riley Mar. 6, Taylor Feb. 12, McDaniel Apr. 4, Ericson June 9, Hantla Nov. 12, Smith Mar. 28, Williams May 14, Lysholm Apr. 28, Beaver Jan. 24,

Worn Aug. 22, 

